Posts Categorized: Other historical periods
Happy Tuesday, everyone! I’m sure most of you are aware that Thanksgiving this year falls on the latest date it can possibly be, much to the hand-wringing dismay of Christmas retailers. And we’ve all been getting the “early Black Friday” emails and advertisements to prove it. Have you ever noticed that when life gets hectic,…
Happy July! For those of us living in the U.S.A., we’re gearing up to celebrate Independence Day. As our thoughts turn to fireworks, barbecues, and sharing time with family, I’d like to take a moment to recall the turning point that led us here. The Declaration of Independence A quick 1776 timeline: June…
I voted. It’s still a thrill, 32 years after I first registered to vote in the presidential election between encumbent Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. (Yeah, I know, I’m old). I’ve voted in nearly every election since then – not just the presidential ones – in the three different states in which I’ve lived. Whether…
Welcome to Flashback Friday, where we take a look at an interesting bit of history. A writer friend of mine, Anne Paris, sent me a rare, silent film clip of a school outing to Coney Island. It is a group of girls from Miss Knapp’s Select School (a boarding school). The super-cool thing, for me,…
Welcome to Flashback Friday! The title above had you guessing a bit, didn’t it? Maybe I’m running amok and reviewing some chick-lit book about new mommies? First dolphins, then storks…what’s next, faeries and unicorns? Bwahaha… Well, thanks to restaurant historian Jan Whitaker – who is graciously allowing me to re-post her fabulous material – you…
Labor Day was declared a federal holiday in 1894. Its purpose was to honor the American worker, in a time when labor unions were fighting to make conditions safer and wages/working hours fairer. The legislation to make it a holiday had been pushed quickly through Congress, in response to the overwhelming negative reaction to the…
The year was 1943, and those crafty Nazis had come up with another plan to assassinate Winston Churchill. They decided to prey upon the Prime Minister’s fondness for expensive chocolate, and began work on a bomb hidden in a pound-slab bar of Peter’s Chocolate. How it was supposed to work: The chocolate bar was made…
SPOILER ALERT: WE’RE REVEALING THE MURDERER… REALLY…STOP NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW!! Okay, I warned you… The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) This was the novel that established Agatha Christie’s mystery-writing reputation. As mentioned in my earlier post (part 1 – Product of a Golden Age), Christie had written five mystery novels before…
